Personalised book: two lovely concepts | MyOwnChildbook
There was a time when a book with your child as the main character was a rare thing. Hiring an illustrator or commissioning a bespoke edition was not within everyone’s reach. That has changed over the past few years, and we think it is rather lovely to see.
Personalisation, after all, is not a sales gimmick. Research by Natalia Kucirkova and colleagues found that parents and children smile and laugh measurably more often when they share a personalised book than an ordinary one. Follow-up work showed that preschoolers even remember new words better from a story that is about themselves. A child who recognises themselves in a book leans in and takes part.
Kucirkova highlights something else worth noting: personalisation gives every child the chance to find themselves in a story, whatever they look like or wherever they come from. And the welcome development is that there is now not one, but several ways to give a child a story of their own. Those ways differ surprisingly much.
Two very different concepts
The first route is the personalised, illustrated story. You describe your child, choose an illustration style, and an original story takes shape in which your child is the hero. No photo shoot, no appointment in the diary, no travel. It is made online and then arrives as a book. Its strength lies in the story itself and in how low the barrier is.
The second route is something altogether different, and rather special. At Fantastische Fabels, a Dutch studio, it is not a drawing but your child themselves at the centre, in a real fairy-tale photo shoot. Your child is dressed up and photographed in a magical scene, and a book is then made from those photos. It is a day out, an experience and a tangible keepsake all at once. The shoot starts at around 75 euros including a premium print, and afterwards you can choose a storybook with wall art in packages up to around 295 euros. Nothing is obligatory: you decide afterwards what suits you.
It is no accident that we mention this here. We simply think it is a wonderful concept, and it is a very different experience from ours.
When does each concept fit?
An honest answer begins with the question of what you are actually after.
Choose the photo-shoot route if you want an experience: a day out with your child, real professional photos, something to hang large on the wall, a premium memory captured on one special day. If the magic for you lies in the photos and the occasion, then an illustrated story simply is not what you need. Go for the shoot.
Choose the illustrated route if what you mainly want is a story: an original adventure to read aloud again and again, without logistics and at a low cost. Handy too when grandparents live far away and you post the book to them. No camera needed, no diary, just made online.
Two different things, then: one captures a moment, the other tells a story. Both valuable, but not interchangeable.
Why accessibility matters to us
This is where our own background comes in. Edwin, who built MyOwnChildbook, is a data engineer, and it is precisely modern technology that now makes the illustrated route feasible for everyone. Where a personalised story once required an illustrator and a sizeable budget, it now costs 29.95 euros as a premium hardcover. Not only for those who can book a shoot or pay an artist, but for every child. That is what makes us happiest of all.
And as a parent you notice exactly what that research shows: a child who sees themselves in a story lights up. Whether through a photo or a drawing, the magic lies in the recognition, in that “hey, that’s me!”. If you are weighing up what kind of personal book to make, our piece on what to make a personalised book about will help you decide.
In closing
The real gain of recent years is not one product or one price. It is that “a story made just for you” is no longer a rarity. Whether you choose a fairy-tale photo shoot or an illustrated adventure, the loveliest part stays the same: a child who looks up and recognises themselves as the hero of the story.
And to be clear: this is not a sponsored post. We simply flagged Fantastische Fabels because we think it is a lovely, beautiful concept. ❤️